all the distractions come for me
and they get me every single time ... but the desire to create never does fade ...
The title and the subtitle of this post sound like lyrics to a song, haha.
But they're so true.
Every time I decide to focus on writing, all these distractions turn up — publishing a new short story collection, or signing up to submit my titles for auto-narration, or setting up something on BookFunnel, or any of the thousand other things that don't need doing right now but would be kinda, slisha fun to do.
And then the distraction gets over, and I come back to the manuscript, and the old fears come roaring, as if to remind me that they were never gone. They had been here all along, simply biding their time, waiting to pounce upon me once I lifted my eyes for long enough to gaze at them.
This is perhaps the lesson I'll keep learning over and over again in my life. To face the fear, and to continue to do the work despite the fear. It'd be a tragedy to allow fear to prevent me from doing what I love.
Another concern these days is about AI getting better at producing creative work. I don't know how these things will play out, but one thing to remember is that we write because we can't help ourselves. It is a natural way of self-expression for writers, just as an artist can't help but paint or a musician can't help but sing or play an instrument.
We don't create works so that we may sell them and make money. If we can do that, great.
But the fundamental driving force that keeps us going creatively is our need for self-expression. Our desire to create something beautiful and put it out there in the world.
So what if many other humans are doing the same? So what if AI also does the same? The fact that other beautiful works exist does not diminish my desire to create something amazing too.
Every mindset book talks about focussing on the process, not on the product or outcome. Writing is a process I love. Narration, cover design, proofreading — I'm happy for AI to take on these jobs for me.
Which then brings me back to the statement I began this post with.
all the distractions come for me ... and they get me every single time ... but the desire to create never does fade ...
Looks like I've run out of excuses to keep permitting this to happen, isn't it?